Household, family, and child risk factors after an investigation for suspected child maltreatment: Are we missing an opportunity for prevention?
Date
2010
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Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine
Abstract
Objective: To determine whether a child protection services investigation for suspected child maltreatment is associated with subsequent improvements in household, caregiver, and child risk factors. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: The Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), a multi-center cohort study of the antecedents and consequences of child maltreatment. Participants: 595 children with the same maternal caregiver responding to age 4 and 8 year LONGSCAN surveys. Main exposure: Investigation for suspected child maltreatment between age 4 and 8 years.
Main Outcomes: Adjusted differences in 7 modifiable risk factors (social support, family functioning, poverty, maternal education, maternal depressive symptoms, anxious/depressive child behaviors, and aggressive/destructive child behaviors) at age 8 years. Results: Of 595 subjects, 164 (27.6%) experienced an investigation for suspected child maltreatment between age 4 and 8 years. At age 8 years, investigated subjects were not perceptibly different than non-investigated subjects in social support, family functioning, poverty, maternal education, or child behavior problems than non-investigated subjects after adjusting for baseline risk factors. Mothers of investigated subjects did have more depressive symptoms at age 8 years than mothers of non-investigated peers. Substantiation of child maltreatment by child protective services did not alter these findings. Conclusions: Our finding that an investigation for suspected child maltreatment is not associated with relative improvements in common, modifiable risk factors suggests that we may be missing an opportunity for secondary prevention of maltreatment and maltreatment consequences. (Author Abstract)
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Citation
Campbell, K. A., Cook, L. J., LaFleur, B. J., & Keenan, H. T. (2010). Household, family, and child risk factors after an investigation for suspected child maltreatment: a missed opportunity for prevention. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 164(10), 943-949.